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Which of the following is used in uranium enrichment?(a) Tubular centrifuge(b) Disk-stack centrifuge(c) Gas centrifuge(d) Zippe-type centrifugeThis question was posed to me in examination.I'd like to ask this question from Centrifugation topic in chapter Unit Operations of Bioprocess Engineering

Answer»

Correct answer is (c) Gas centrifuge

For explanation: Gas centrifuges are USED in URANIUM enrichment. The HEAVIER isotope of uranium (uranium-238) in the uranium hexafluoride gas tends to concentrate at the walls of the centrifuge as it spins, while the desired uranium-235 isotope is extracted and CONCENTRATED with a scoop selectively placed INSIDE the centrifuge. It takes many thousands of centrifugations to enrich uranium enough for use in a nuclear reactor (around 3.5% enrichment), and many thousands more to enrich it to weapons-grade (above 90% enrichment) for use in nuclear weapons.


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